Safety razor blade



Jan. 15, @952 J. 1. PFEFFERLE SAFETY RAZOR BLADE Filed Oct. 21, 1948 glnfienfur JACK PFEFFERLE.

Patented Jan. 15, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SAFETY RAZOR BLADE Jack I. Pfefierle, Baltimore, Md. Application October 21, 1948, Serial No. 55,721

1 Claim. 30-349) This invention relates to the smaller classes of cutting equipment, such as those used for personal use for shaving purposes and cutting small items. commonly termed safety razors, wherein a flexible replaceable or demountable metal blade is employed in a holder. The blade used may have one or more sharp edges formed on a wide strip of the metal, that is thin and of suitable temper for the duty to be imposed on it.

In its conventional form, the blade of the. double edged type is about an inch and five-eighths long by seven-eighths inch wide with portions removed out of its middle area and at the sides,

to make it fit the holder used. It is blanked out of a single strip of material such as tool steel ribbon or stainless steel strip. The material is relatively expensive, even though the amount used is small, for each razor. However under production conditions the cost of the material for the blades will be substantial, because .of the total amount required. Further the cutting and stamping of the blank is also relatively expensive as the tools required have to be designed and made to meet the severe work of cutting through tempered metal, and are rapidly worn out. Also more power is required for the work to meet the resistance incurred in the use of this tempered material. This characteristic involves an appreciable proportion of the cost of manufacture and controls the price and profit. This invention has been developed to lessen this cost and at the same time produce a more attractive item. It employs as many cutting edges as the blade requires, but uses a restricted amount of material for the purpose. The amount of material is limited to the amount actually required for. the provision of a suitable cutting edge. This 'is about one-eighth of an inch. Thus for a double edged blade the total width required of the two cutting edges More particularly it includes the type.

would be two-eighths of an inch or one-quarter inch. Since the usual width of the conventional blade is seven-ei'ghths of an inch, a saving of the blade steel is five-eighths of an inch in the width. The steel required for the blade in this invention, is therefore considerably less than half that re quired for the conventional blade. These edge strips are attached to a central body section of plastic or other suitable thermo-insulating ma-' terial that is thin and flexible, yet sufiiciently strong to support the strips adequately, by a strong adhesive having waterproof qualities. This produces a light and economical form of blade.

For a better understanding of the invention,

reference is made to the drawings, which illustrate a particular form of the invention. These drawings in conjunction with the following description give an example of the invention, and enable its principles and objects to be appreciated.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a plan view of a double edged razor blade embodying this invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan View of a single edge blade;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of Figure 3, and

Figure 5 is a modified method for attaching the cutting edge to the support.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

The objects of this invention are to provide a new and improved blade for a safety razor or article of a similar nature, that will avoid one or more of the disadvantages and limitations of the prior art. Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved blade of the replaceable type in a holder for manipulating it, that will require a minimumamount of metal or cutsuch as shaving and the like.

A further object of the invention is to provide a new'ancl improved blade of this type that will be attractive, yet economical to manufacture and market.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a razor blade having a cutting edge insulated by its supporting member from sudden temperature changes.

- -Other objects will become apparent as the invention is more fully set forth.

In the particular form of. structure shown in the drawings a blade ID for a safety razor consists of narrow metal cutting strips H forming the cutting edges, with a relatively wide middle section of plastic material supportingthem. The strips H are preferably cemented in place on the plastic section I3 and held there securely. A common plastic cement 34, such as amylacetate, which is waterproof may be used for this purpose. The width of the cutting strips attached to the section is about 50% of that re quired for ordinary purpose, as this provides the necessary stiiiness and fastening surface between the two parts. The plastic section I2 is made of such width as to make the total width of the blade with the cutting edges equal the width of a conventional safety razor blade. This section is provided with perforations l4 and cuts l5 of suitable form to enable it to fit the holder in which the blade is placed, according to the conventional design used in the various razors. The manner of attaching the blade in the holders commonly used is so well known, as not to require further explanation. The blade has a number of advantages over the usual type, in that it requires a minimum of metal for its cutting edges, and this may be supplied in strips on rolls that permit its immediate assembly, after being cut off to lengths to suit the blade, without stamping out and discarding of waste as conventionally required. The resinous or plastic section can be made up very economically in a molding process or other process and in doing so has a large selective list of colors to choose from. The material of which the plastic material is composed may be of a common plastic nature, laminated, impregnated paper, fabric or fiber glass suitably treated. In this way there is less chance of breakage than if lightly tempered metal was used in the usual way for the purpose, because the latter is highly brittle by reason of the tempering given it. The blade is lighter than metal. It is not weakened by the perforations in its middle section, to the same extent as would be the case if metal was used. The resinous or plastic material acts as a thermo insulator and support for the cutting edges. The cementing process for fastening the blade edges and plastic section provides flexibility without loss of effectiveness and is rapid in production as well as inexpensive. There is no waste. The machines used for the production are less massive and expensive than those required for production, when metal is used, in place of the plastic, and the power required for their operation is also less. The middle section being of plastic or other flexible materials mentioned is not liable to corrosion as is metal. The tightening of the holder on the middle section will not break it because of its flexibility, as it does frequently in the use of all metal blades in safety razors. No covering or waxing is required for the middle section because of its freedom from corrosion. Also with plastic, the cutting edges may be embedded therein without the use of cement, if that process is preferable. Theterm plastic as used herein is intended to be inclusive and may be of the laminated, impregnated paper, fabric and fibreglass construction previously referred to herein. since under production they can be so processed into a product that is hard to distinguish one from the other, as their characteristics are very similar. Another feature of some importance is in the fact that the materials may be salvaged after use, very readily and reused if desired for the same or other purposes. Also during production, the loss from discards or imperfections is less than with all-metal blades. Since the cutting edegs may be supplied in tempered condition to the assembly line, the need for annealing or other steps usually required in the all-metal blades is avoided.

In the modification shown in Figure 5, the middle section 24 is somewhat thicker than the middle section I2 of Figures 1 to 4 and it is provided with marginal slots 23 within which the cutting strips 2| are held. The strips, in this instance, are made with an indentation 22 and an inner edge of the slots 23 has a cooperative boss or bead adapted to snap in the indentation when the strips are forced in the slots. The

sides 01' the slots being inherently flexible due The middle section 24 may be made solid or laminated and is provided with cut-out perforations 25 of similar shape to I4 shown in Figure 1.

While but three general forms of the invention are shown in the drawings and described in the specifications, it is not desired to limit this application for patent to these particular forms, as it .is appreciated that other forms could be made that would use the same principles and come within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

A blade of the type described, comprising a one-piece, flexible, fiat, non-metallic holding plate having openings therethrough to fit a razor-blade holder, said plate having grooves along opposite marginal edges thereof provided within the thickness of the plate, each groove being bounded by two opposite, flexible, marginal walls of the plate, a cutting strip of thin material fitting in each of said grooves, and means for locking said strips in the grooves, said means comprising a projection carried by one of each of the opposite marginal walls and a cooperating indentation on the associated strip, whereby the strips may be selectively snapped in and out of the grooves.

JACK I. PFEFFERLE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Date 

